Centurion wicket will favour NZ’s seam attack
Issac Luke racing clock to play in Sunday’s defining game against the Wests Tigers
David Leggat
New Zealand have moved on to prepare for the second cricket test against South Africa starting tomorrow night, but the Durban debacle rumbles on.
The report of match referee Andy Pycroft has been forwarded to Cricket South Africa, who face a warning or a fine not exceeding US$15,000 ($20,500) over the state of the Kingsmead pitch, on which just four sessions of play were possible before the outfield was deemed unsafe.
Pycroft has officially rated the ground “poor” — hardly a Stop The Press pronouncement — and there may be longer-term ramifications for Durban’s cricket officials.
There have been concerns over the SuperSport Park outfield at Centurion ahead of the second test, too. Centurion groundsman Rudolph du Preez has spent double the usual amount of time preparing the pitch, 20 days instead of 10, and expects it will hold up well over the five days but rates it unlikely to provide much help for spinners.
“It might not deteriorate as we are used to. It might be a little bit slower, it might be holding back a bit more,” he said.
In that case, it’s unlikely to worry New Zealand. They opted for a fourth seamer, Doug Bracewell, at the expense of a second specialist spinner, Ish Sodhi, in the Durban test. Bracewell was tidy in a good New Zealand seam bowling display. Retaining the status quo seems probable, given du Preez’s expectations.
New Zealand’s bowling coach Shane Jurgensen marked the bowlers’ report card with a pass mark.
“We bowled quite well but can do better,” he said. ”We know we can bowl a bit better, it’s exciting for us.”
Jurgensen said plenty of thought would go into handling star batsman Hashim Amla, who averages a fine 51.46 in 93 tests. That jumps to 78.5 in 10 against New Zealand.
“Obviously Amla is a very good player and we probably have to slightly adjust our plans to him.
“‘It’s little things, make sure we limit the boundaries, but that’s the way Amla plays. We’ve got to go through the process of limiting that damage early.”
Amla was severe on three of the seamers, Tim Southee, Neil Wagner and Doug Bracewell, at times in Durban as he made 53 before left armer Trent Boult, the pick of the attack, removed him.
Bracewell said there had been positives for the New Zealand bowlers.
“I was reasonably happy with the way I went. It was good to get 16 overs under the belt. A little bit of learning came out of that, both for us and about South Africa. We know what we’re up against.”
Warriors hooker Issac Luke may make a shock early return from injury in Sunday’s crucial National Rugby League clash against Wests Tigers as both sides fight to keep their playoff hopes alive.
Luke has missed the Warriors’ last three games following arthroscopic surgery earlier this month after injuring his right knee in the late stages of the Warriors’ round 21 win over Penrith.
The 29-year-old international had a short recovery and resumed light running last week but was not expected to play until next week’s final round game against Parramatta.
Rookie hooker Nathaniel Roache was on Tuesday named to start in the nine jersey for the second week in a row but sources revealed Luke will be given every chance to run out on to Mt Smart Stadium, pending medical clearances in the next 24 hours.
With the Warriors sitting precariously in ninth position on the NRL ladder and their finals hopes hanging by a thread, the former South Sydney premiership winner’s presence would be a tremendous boost to the side, coming off back-to-back losses to the Rabbitohs and Cowboys.
Luke was at the forefront of the Warriors’ mid-season revival — a nineweek run that saw them achieve six wins and three golden-point losses — but the side has missed his creativity and running game over the past fortnight.
In his absence, coach Andrew McFadden employed both Jazz Tevaga and fellow 20-year-old Roache to share the dummy half duties, with the former starting and the latter coming off the bench in both the round 22 win over Gold Coast and the following week’s loss to the Rabbitohs.
That experiment was ditched last week ahead of the trip to Townsville but the Warriors were caught out when a hamstring injury to Ken Maumalo forced significant changes. Roache was pushed out wide for a stint, while five- Thomas Leuluai eighth Thomas Leuluai jumped into the hooking role.
Leuluai was kept busy defensively in his time in the middle and was one of the Warriors’ best as he got through 34 tackles, but the versatile 31-year-old said Luke’s return to the side could not come soon enough.
“No disrespect to the guys that have come in for him but he’s a class player and you notice the difference,” said Leuluai.
“The young boys have done a great job and will continue to get better but a guy of Issac’s calibre is invaluable. You want him playing.”
Meanwhile, McFadden admitted he would be watching tomorrow night’s crucial match between Gold Coast and Penrith, with the playoff hopes of both the ninthranked Warriors and 10thplaced Wests Tigers hanging on the Titans dropping their last two regular-season games.
“I dare say I’ll be looking at the scoreline there,” he said. “Obviously it’s an important game, that if the Panthers win, we still have a chance.
“We have to look forward, that’s the bottom line.
“The Titans have some tough games and, if we win our next two, we put ourselves in the right position so that’s all we’re focused on.”
Leuluai said the players would all be tuning in to watch the game but said family commitments would prevent him from hosting any of his teammates at his house.
“I’ll be at home bathing the baby, bro. I don’t think any of the boys will want to come around and watch me do that.”